


Duties and Distractions

by magog_83



Series: Stories of Love and Menswear [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-04
Updated: 2011-04-04
Packaged: 2017-10-17 14:33:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/177866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magog_83/pseuds/magog_83
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur attempts to do his Supervisory Timetable. Merlin is a bit distracting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Duties and Distractions

**Author's Note:**

> Set about a month after the end of A Story of Love and Menswear.

Arthur knew he would have to speak to Merlin soon about the hand holding. It wasn’t that Arthur was averse to holding Merlin’s hand, in fact he liked it more than he had ever expected to, and with Merlin being such a tactile sort of person, he got plenty of opportunities to enjoy it. But he was fairly sure that holding hands behind the till was inappropriate, especially when Arthur was attempting to fill out the daily timetable and having to balance his rubber band ball on the paper to stop it moving, in lieu of the use of his left hand. When the paper skidded sideways for the fifth time, he knew he had to say something. Unfortunately for Arthur’s sanity, Merlin chose that very moment to swing their joined hands happily back and forth, his thumb moving gently over the palm as he smiled at Arthur in a way that made Arthur feel ~~breathless~~ extremely disapproving.

“Merlin,” he cleared his throat for added authority, it always seemed to work for his father. “We shouldn’t do this now.”

Far from looking upset or any of the things Arthur had been ~~worrying about~~ expecting, Merlin just wiggled his fingers free and sighed. “I know, I know. Pants to tidy. I am a slave to my job.” Then he leaned across before Arthur could so much as blink and kissed him, smiling against his mouth. “And anyway, we’ve got time later.”

If Arthur found himself returning Merlin’s kiss for a brief moment, it was only because of the shock. “You’re still coming over then,” he said in a ~~hopeful~~ uninterested sort of voice.

“Of course I am.” Merlin was looking at Arthur like he was considering another inappropriate display of affection, so Arthur gave him what he hoped was a suitably professional look and reminded him he was sorting pants until half past eleven. Merlin rolled his eyes (which was what happened when you let your staff take liberties with your person) then added, “I won’t be round until after nine though.”

“What? Why?” It was possible Arthur's question had come out somewhat louder then he'd intended - he still blamed the shock.

“I have to go round uncle Gaius’s with mum, it’s his birthday,” Merlin said apologetically. “I’ll come straight over afterwards though and you can save me some pizza.”

Arthur struggled for a moment with the ~~crushing disappointment~~ inconvenience. “Won’t it be too late by then? The roads are rather busy and you’ll hardly have arrived before you have to go again.” Arthur said this in a very reasonable tone, the kind of tone anyone would use when pointing out potential traffic difficulties and attempting to do the right thing. Unfortunately Merlin (as usual) somehow read his reasonable tone as something else entirely and actually looked pleased.

“I don’t mind the drive. It’s worth it.”

Arthur wondered if they’d been messing with the heating again, he was suddenly feeling a little warm. “Oh, ok then. Good.” He looked round for something to do with his hands ~~that didn’t involve reaching for Merlin~~ and settled on his rubber band ball. “Morgana will be pleased, she’s got a new film for us that she says is very good.”

“And I was thinking,” Merlin said in a rush, when Arthur had barely finished speaking, the flush that Arthur had come to ~~adore~~ tolerate, spreading across his cheekbones. “If the film finishes really late, maybe I could, uh, stay over. In a spare room of course,” he amended quickly. “That way I could drive you to work tomorrow as well and we could have more time together tonight.” He stopped and looked at Arthur, looking even more hopeful than he had when Arthur had been nominated for Weekend Employee of the Month. And it wasn’t as if the thought of Merlin being able to stay late and still be there tomorrow morning was unwelcome. Arthur prided himself on his unfailing honesty and saying goodbye to Merlin at 11.30 sharp on a Saturday night was always ~~horrible~~ less than ideal. But if Merlin stayed, he might get used to it, and then _Arthur_ might get used to it, and then he might never want Merlin to go home, and it wasn’t as if they had even done anything much yet (no matter what Morgana said about them needing a room). Not that Arthur didn’t want to do more, he just... didn’t have ~~any~~ much experience with that sort of thing and if he was going to disappoint anyone, he didn’t want it to be Merlin of all people. All of which went through Arthur’s mind in the time it took for him to realise that he was still standing there, saying nothing, and gripping the rubber band ball a little too hard, and Merlin’s flush was turning a dull red and his hopeful expression leeching away in a manner that was absolutely not acceptable.

“I would like that,” Arthur blurted, before he could think better of it, and was immediately rewarded by Merlin’s beaming smile. Arthur’s heart pounded uncomfortably fast at the thought of what he was about to do, but it wasn’t as though the guest room was at all suitable for someone like Merlin, it was too big and empty and Merlin hated floral wallpaper anyway. He swallowed, “You can just stay in my room if you like, Morgana says no-one should be forced to stay in our guest room anyway, it’s horrible, and my bed is a double.” He felt his face heat as he realised what that sounded like, but didn’t take it back. He could do this, he’d once signed up four new store card account customers before lunch.

Merlin blinked at him, mouth opening and closing in a totally ~~endearing~~ stupid way. Then he grinned again, foolishly, and said “Ok, then. Ok, I’ll bring my toothbrush,” and then stood there some more before seeming to remember he was actually _at work_ (honestly, was it only Arthur?) and turning round and walking into the till, before muttering “oops” and shuffling around it and making it half way across the floor before he realised he’d forgotten his sticker gun.

Arthur watched him go (for the second time) and hoped that his sudden burst of courage wasn’t going to have a detrimental effect on the productivity of the department. It was already causing his stomach to flip flop in a highly unsettling way and his skin to feel prickly and hot with the thought of Merlin curled beneath his duvet, probably looking warm and sleepy like he had at the cinema two weeks ago when he’d fallen asleep in the middle of the important exposition scene and dribbled all over Arthur’s new shirt. His fears over productivity were hardly improved when he looked across the floor ten distracting minutes later to see Merlin still smiling at him and quite clearly not doing any stickering of any kind. He made a gesture that he hoped conveyed the need for imminent stickering. Merlin waved back and then wandered off to arrange some golf socks, whilst still managing to sneak looks at Arthur at least twice a minute (not that Arthur was staring, but as a Supervisor he needed to be keep an occasional eye on his staff).

Arthur could tell it was going to be a long day, and he hadn’t even finished colour coding his timetable.

The end.


End file.
